HB 10000 hydraulic breaker celebrates 10th anniversary

A huge hit, this productivity giant is now turning ten!

Which 10-year-old hits with a force equivalent to the weight of 130 elephants, or the landing pressure of an Airbus A380? The answer is the Atlas Copco HB 10000, the world’s largest serial hydraulic breaker. Since its launch in 2007 this giant machine has been one big success story, helping users worldwide to achieve exceptional productivity in rock excavation.

Happy birthday, HB 10000

The launch of the HB 10000 was an important step towards serving an emerging market segment – the use of hydraulic breakers as cost-efficient production machines for primary breaking and as a true economic alternative when drilling and blasting is restricted.

Legendary breaking power
The sheer breaking power of the HB 10000 has become legendary. The power generated in a single impact between piston and working tool corresponds to a weight force of around 760 metric tons, and impact frequency is up to 380 blows per minute. Tasked with handling 34,400 cubic meters of bulk rock excavation on a site in New York, one US contractor said: “The HB 10000 hits like a freight train. It’s borderline unbelievable what that breaker can do!”

Jim Dupuis, Managing Director and owner of Erthmoving Contractors Pty Ltd (EMC), in Brisbane, Australia, adds: “The HB 10000 is breaking out more than double compared to our existing seven ton breaker. If you work that out over an hour, day, week, month or a year – that is a massive production increase.”

Looking back, Torsten Ahr, Vice President Marketing Hydraulic Attachment Tools, says: “As early as the prototype phase, it was clear the HB 10000 was going to be a hit. We received several firm inquiries from operations where our prototypes had been tested even before the production model went on sale.”